Manuel Herrera, 34, Sacramento, California, a licensed real estate agent, pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit wire fraud in connection with a mortgage fraud scheme wherein the defendant and his conspirators conspired to obtain home loans from mortgage lenders based upon false and fraudulent loan applications.
As previously reported by Mortgage Fraud Blog, Herrera served as a loan officer and later a branch manager at Delta Homes and Lending Inc., a real estate and mortgage lending company. Between October 2004 and May 2007, Herrera and his co-defendants conspired to obtain home loans from mortgage lenders based upon false and fraudulent loan applications and supporting documents that falsely represented the borrowers’ assets and income, liabilities and debts, employment status, and citizenship status.
According to the Indictment, the defendants, including Herrera, provided money to borrowers in order to fraudulently inflate the borrowers’ assets and bank account balances. Once the defendants had secured the loans, the borrowers returned the money the defendants had provided for the scheme. The aggregate sales price of the homes involved in the conspiracy was in excess of $10 million. As a result of the defendants’ actions, mortgage lenders and others suffered losses of at least $4 million.
Herrera’s co-defendants, including Moctezuma Tovar, Ruben Rodriguez, and Jaime Mayorga, all licensed real estate agents residing in Sacramento; Sandra Hermosillo, Woodland, California, formerly a loan officer; and Christian Parada Renteria, Sacramento, formerly a loan officer have a trial date of April 21, 2015. Herrera’s co-defendant Jun Michael Dirain pleaded guilty on February 3, 2014, and is currently scheduled to be sentenced on July 7, 2014.
Herrera is scheduled for a status conference concerning sentencing in front of Judge William B. Shubb on July 7, 2014. Herrera faces a maximum statutory penalty of 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.
United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced the guilty plea.
This case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Lee S. Bickley is prosecuting the case.
Any non-violent crime where property is taken unlawfully from an individual can be constituted as a property crime. This includes burglary, larceny, vehicle theft, arson and other offenses. Large fines and the possibility of prison time are imminent when convicted of these crimes.
This is how people get loans they’re not qualified for. The primary root cause of the crises.